


Silver Threads

by ohmygodagiantrock



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Family Drama, M/M, Twins
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-30
Updated: 2019-12-29
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:09:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22026103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohmygodagiantrock/pseuds/ohmygodagiantrock
Summary: AU. Gozaburo's death forces Seto and Noa to fend for the Kaiba family together and take over the family tailoring business. The eldest Kaiba brothers dive into deep competition with one another and the new hires. But one arrogant young man's confident allure tempts Seto to risk crossing professional boundaries or abandon his station as employer and join the ranks. Prideshipping.
Relationships: Atem/Kaiba Seto, Kaiba Seto/Kujaku Mai | Mai Valentine
Comments: 1
Kudos: 7





	1. Chapter 1

When Seto stepped into the dusty workroom, his immediate expression was a grimace. Dust hung in the air, and his nostrils already stung with a desire to sneeze. He rubbed at the bridge of his nose and willed the sensation away. Why did he manage to forget about the dust every time he came?

“Why are we here, Noa?” he asked.

Noa’s face was set into a deep frown. The sincerity of Noa Kaiba’s face was clear. He spun to face his twin brother.

“I need you to believe in magic, Seto.”

Seto’s eyes narrowed in annoyance but he didn’t answer.

“If you don’t get on board, our family will be on a swift path to the poorhouse.”

“This country doesn’t operate with a “poorhouse” system. Make your point.”

“Don’t get technical.”

Noa peered around the dusty room, an amicable smile gracing his features. He glanced lovingly at the solid metal machines, set on desks that formed two rows through the room, a narrow pathway separating them.

“Father’s gone. Half his business has gone down the drain since he died.”

“I’m the new owner. I’ve seen the paperwork.”

“His employees were almost too loyal to him. Without Father around to run the place, they’re quitting.”

“If they were so loyal to him, one would think they’d stick around, rather than abandoning what he believed in.”

“Maybe they didn’t believe in it. Maybe they only had faith enough to believe in him. But you’re contributing to the problem, Seto. You’re _becoming_ the problem.”

“Right now the only problem I see is this shop running us into the ground. The sooner we sell it off--”

“The sooner Father’s dreams will die! This is supposed to be a _family_ business, Seto!”

Seto ran a hand through his hair. His foot bounced while he stood, patience thin.

Noa ran a hand over a rack of spools lining the wall. His fingers paused over a violet colored thread and pulled it off the spindle, twirling the spool in his fingers.

“He loved this shop. How can you even think of selling it?”

“I’d like to eat, Noa. For that matter, I’d like to finish school. I’m the one pursuing a business degree, so I get why the inheritance went to me. But I never said that I wanted it. And even if I do sell, you don’t have to quit. I know how much you love this place too.”

“You don’t get it. Every tailor who works here will quit if you sell. Who would you find to buy this place, who’s still willing to keep up Gozaburo Kaiba’s quality of workmanship? Tailors like him don’t exist anymore. They have to be _born_ and _trained_.”

“If I don’t sell, the shop will go out of business. If I do sell, the shop will go out of business, but I’ll have received capital for the sale.”

“And you’ll have sentenced Father’s dreams to death.”

Noa was silent a while. He picked at the spool in his hands, brushing a clump of dust off the cardboard cone.

“What would Mokuba think,” Noa asked quietly, “when you tell him we can’t afford his games anymore? His name as a competitor will sink. The name Kaiba won’t mean a thing to anyone.”

Seto’s eyes bore into Noa’s. The brothers locked eyes for a challenging moment. Seto intended to win the argument but he needed to concede defeat in the battle. He blinked, breaking contact.

“What’s your grand plan, Noa? How do you see this getting fixed?”

A gleam ignited in Noa’s eyes.

“You understand the concept of a quality product. You’re learning how to handle customers with expertise. You’re—”

“Cut the flattery. You won’t bribe me with it.”

Noa nodded curtly, but the gleam hadn’t expired.

“The only way I see you fixing this is by working.”

“...Working. Here.”

Another nod.

“You’re asking me… to _sew_.”

The light finally faded from Noa’s expression and his eyes narrowed. A shadow cast over his brow gave him a suddenly ominous look. Seto couldn’t help but brace against the shift in moods. The brothers were twins. They were no stranger to competition, and Seto always knew when one was about to begin.

“I’m _telling_ you that if you don’t step up and _do something_ , our way of life as we know it will crumble. The choice is yours.”


	2. Chapter 2

Seto saw the logic. Gozaburo’s tailoring shop was going under without its founder. But he had had no cause to care about the old fool and his traditional ethics. _That_ was Noa’s job.

_Follow the leader, little puppet_ , Seto thought in a mocking tone.

Seto had to admit that his twin knew a thing or two about the trade. Noa could run one of the gleaming machines a hundred miles an hour with fury, without a single misplaced stitch. And Seto had seen him whip his measuring tape around a client with precision and surety, and he looked like a damn professional doing it. Just like Father had.

But when Seto’s dream of going to business school was born, he had never considered running a business in a _service industry_. He saw himself handling paperwork, sitting in management meetings, growing businesses and banking on profits. Working with his mind, using cunning and intelligence to get ahead.

Seto and Noa both took after Gozaburo in the most extreme of senses. But one could have divided the Kaiba patriarch’s personality in half with a knife, and each Kaiba twin would be born from the separate halves. Seto and Noa couldn’t be more different.

Mokuba, as the youngest, fell into an odd category. He looked up to Seto more than anyone else in the family, but he took after no one in particular. While the elder siblings focused on their career pursuits, Mokuba chose a different path: competitive recreation for profit.

Mokuba battled CapMon chess in tournaments, and took home the prize money when he won, which was often. It was unfortunate, however, that the winnings didn’t always balance out the spending in game pieces. In a good season, he might earn himself a little spending money, but that was all.

He, like Noa, was an expert in his field. It was the only thing Mokuba and Noa had in common. Not only did Mokuba win his matches by landslides, but he did so with the suavity and arrogance of a stage performer. He made his money from entertaining others.

Seto, rigid and stark as he was, wondered how on earth anyone could expect him to be able to perform with the grace and dexterity that held up his father’s shop for thirty years. If anyone should know Seto better than that, it was his twin brother.

* * *

Noa’s expression turned expectant the longer the brothers stared each other down.

Seto was the first to back down, but not to admit defeat.

“I won’t do it,” he finally answered.

“Then you’ve doomed us. What will Mokuba say?”

Seto’s eyes narrowed now.

“I don’t deny this task out of defiance. I won’t because I can’t, and you know it.” The words were choked out, as if the dust in Seto’s lungs dried them out.

Then they hung in the air, creating the space between them both.

Noa smirked.

“Fine. Then find me someone who can. Use your business management skills to save us. But let me tell you: you’ll never find someone worth what Father paid, willing to work for a nobody in the fashion industry.”

“A _nobody_?” Seto hissed. “I’m a Kaiba, same as you.”

“But they _know_ me here. I’ve been in this shop since the day I could thread a needle. The clients asked about _Noa Kaiba_. How many of the businessmen we serve in this town do you think have even heard your name, Seto?”

“They’ll know me well enough in time,” he said, beginning to seethe.

“In time? Half-staffed, do you think our business is going to hold out long enough to finish your degree? How will you pay for it when the money’s out?”

“Stop being so dramatic. My threat to sell isn’t ruining the business. It’s the other half of the tailors who already quit who’ve ruined us.”

“They quit because they _knew_ you’d sell! As soon as Father died, they knew.”

“That isn’t my fault.”

“It doesn’t show off your impeccable management capabilities, either. Find me some decent tailors, or learn to sew yourself.”

Noa jabbed a finger past Seto’s shoulder, pointing to the rack of garments on the intake bar.

“We’ll never get through that within the week. All the same, we have to. The clients will have our heads when they come to pick up their suits and they aren’t finished.”

Seto considered the clients. He didn’t care much about the clothes they wore, but letting the Kaiba name be tarnished under his ownership wouldn’t help his chances of forming business relationships with those same men and their webs of contacts.

Noa didn’t have to have a winning argument for Seto to see that he needed the family business not to fail. Learning to sew was a definite stretch of the imagination. But going into management would mean learning to hire well. He would find tailors before he would ever become one.

Seto felt his eye twitch and blinked. One more glance around the tired-looking room was all he could take.

“You’ll have your tailors within the week,” he promised. “So you can stop being so dramatic.”


End file.
